What if TOS was the only series?

[2takesfrakes]

I've sometimes wondered what the response would've been if The Motion Picture was actually the start of the STAR TREK franchise. Would it have caught on, in any way? What would people have thought of the aging crew? The Space Hero is pushing 50 ... the bad guy is a NASA satellite ... would audiences have known what to do with this film? Could there have ever been a call for a sequel? Even in TOS, none of the cast were kids. Chekov, even, was at or near 30 ... and he was the "kid!"

 

[Finn]

Back to the Future?

They would have to have Marty say something other than being Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan without the infamous Vulcan salute in that scene


Also, it would have probably influenced the existence of other non-sci fi shows and films, probably in ways we couldn't possibly know without actually seeing that..."reality".

 

[Terok Nor]

I don't think this scenario was ever likely. The fan campaigns and re-runs kept Star Trek a viable property. Within a few years of The Original Series being cancelled we already had the first spin off with The Animated Series. Phase 2 was being put together before it was decided to turn it into The motion Picture which was a success financially if not critically.

I think the more likely scenario would be what would have happened if Star Trek 2 had flopped. That surely would have put a stop to Star Trek for a very long time and we'd have had no more sequels or spin offs. A remake would probably have happened at some point since Hollywood always goes to that well.

 

[JesterFace]

We would all be fans and be watching Doctor Who.

But, I guess there might be few Doc W fans here anyway.

 

[Galileo7]

I just can't see TOS not getting movies at least. A universe where TOS didn't get movies is a universe where Star Wars never came to exist either.

Agree. If there was only TOS, then there probably would have still been TOS films or TOS Phase II television series or JJ reboot films based on TOS.

 

[fireproof78]

I don't think this scenario was ever likely. The fan campaigns and re-runs kept Star Trek a viable property. Within a few years of The Original Series being cancelled we already had the first spin off with The Animated Series. Phase 2 was being put together before it was decided to turn it into The motion Picture which was a success financially if not critically.

I think the more likely scenario would be what would have happened if Star Trek 2 had flopped. That surely would have put a stop to Star Trek for a very long time and we'd have had no more sequels or spin offs. A remake would probably have happened at some point since Hollywood always goes to that well.

Honestly, I'm not sure. And I know this is all fun speculation, but TMP really had a rough going. The fact that it got made at all still amazes me.

We would all be fans and be watching Doctor Who.

But, I guess there might be few Doc W fans here anyway.

Never heard of it.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Science fiction never goes mainstream and instead there is a series of Tolkienesque fantasy stories involving dwarves, elves and sorcerers with casts of lovable characters exploring moral themes. Ron Moore produces a gritty Lord of the Rings reboot series where characters all fight to obtain the ring and use it for themselves.

 

[Ronald Held]

Maybe the path was TOS, then Phase II. After the poor showing, no TOS movie or the studio urge for more Star Trek until long after Roddenberry's death?

 

[FormerLurker]

Patrick Stewart would have no American acting career.

Why not? He already had one before TNG came along.

TNG was a major career boost for him. At the very least, Bryan Singer has said it was because of TNG that he cast Stewart in X-Men. Plus, it can be argued Stewart's prominence in Seth MacFarlane's work (most notably as CIA Director Bullock in American Dad) is also because MacFarlane is such a TNG fan.

I get all that...but as I said, Patrick Stewart had an American film career already pre-1987. Would he have been as well known without TNG? Hell no.

Very true. Although, how much of an American acting career did he have pre-1987. Off the top of my head all I can think of is Dune and Lifeforce. BTW, Lifeforce is recommended if you've ever wanted to see Patrick Stewart call someone a "little bitch."

Lifeforce was also Patrick's first on-screen kiss. (With Steven Railsback.)
As well as that and Dune, he was also in Excalibur. And some other stuff.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001772/

At his first Star Trek convention, in Denver the spring of 1988, Patrick Stewart said "Before Star Trek, I had only been in four films. Now, three of them were Excalibur, Lifeforce and Dune ...". The fourth was a small indie film called Lady Jane, about Lady Jane Grey, called the Nine Days Queen, that supporters put on the throne when Henry VIII died. When her claim couldn't be supported, Henry's daughter Mary took the throne and instigated a reign of terror that earned her the nickname 'Bloody Mary'.

Patrick Stewart had a following in the US, but not really much of a career. All four of his first, pre-TNG features were shot in England, by British filmmakers. All he had was attention. And TNG multiplied that by a couple orders of magnitude.

 

[Kevman7987]

Patrick Stewart had a following in the US, but not really much of a career. All four of his first, pre-TNG features were shot in England, by British filmmakers. All he had was attention. And TNG multiplied that by a couple orders of magnitude.

So if Patrick Stewart had not become Picard, today he'd be one of filmgoers favorite that-guys. Trying to reach that lofty goal level of being a James Cromwell.

 

[fireproof78]

Science fiction never goes mainstream and instead there is a series of Tolkienesque fantasy stories involving dwarves, elves and sorcerers with casts of lovable characters exploring moral themes. Ron Moore produces a gritty Lord of the Rings reboot series where characters all fight to obtain the ring and use it for themselves.

Isn't that Game of Thrones?

 

[FormerLurker]

So if Patrick Stewart had not become Picard, today he'd be one of filmgoers favorite that-guys. Trying to reach that lofty goal level of being a James Cromwell.

In all likelyhood, yes. He was 48 when he was first cast as Picard, and with his male-pattern baldness and prominent nose, was just shy of being a handsome-leading-man type. Prior to TNG, he had already begun the path toward 'filmgoer's favorite that-guy', with several people recognizing him from each of the four films he had done when seeing him in another of them, and many in the audience of TNG saying "Wasn't he in that other...?" when he showed up as Picard.

It's possible he was in a fifth film he may not have remembered. In 1968, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company produced and starred in their own film version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", starring Judi Dench as Titania and Ian Richardson as Oberon. The cast was diverse, with several actors that did small parts for the company at the beginning of their careers coming back as a favor, including Ian Holm as Puck, Helen Mirren as Helena, Diana Rigg as Hermia, David Warner as Lysander and Sebastian Shaw as Quince. While Patrick Stewart is not listed on IMDB, he may have appeared in the background in an uncredited role. It would depend on when he joined the company.

 

[diankra]

Lifeforce was also Patrick's first on-screen kiss. (With Steven Railsback.)
As well as that and Dune, he was also in Excalibur. And some other stuff.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001772/

On film, surely? ISTR him having a snog or two with his mistress in I Claudius.

 

[Tosk]

On film, surely? ISTR him having a snog or two with his mistress in I Claudius.

Dunno, I've never seen I Claudius. I was just going by what Stewart himself has said.

“That film, as a matter of interest, gave me my first onscreen kiss,”

But then, his memory could be faulty because the other part of the story he tells is slightly off.

“It was originally meant to be with Mathilda May, which I was looking forward to, but at the last moment, Tobe had a different idea and decided to switch Mathilda for Steve Railsback. So I ended up having my first screen kiss with him. It was a little awkward—it wouldn’t be these days, not at all, but it was then—but Steve was wonderful about it, and gave a terrific performance. But all I had in my mind at the time was, oh my God, this is the man who played Charles Manson; what if he eats me while he’s kissing me or something [laughs]?”

But as far as I know, it was never going to be Stewart and May kissing. The only combos were Stewart and Railsback, and May and Railsback. Stewart stands in for May in the encounter due to mind-swap-control-whatever. Interestingly enough, Stewart ended up in another scene vaguely similar years later, when Jean Grey speaks to Scott Summers through Xavier in X2.